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Vietnam: Journey of the Heart
A Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition
February 14 - April 8
The Air
Zoo (formerly known as the Kalamazoo Aviation
History Museum) will host a traveling
Smithsonian Exhibition called Vietnam:
Journey of the Heart - Photographs by Geoffrey
Clifford, 1985-2000. The exhibit is a stunning collection
of 52 color photographs
of Vietnam taken by internationally acclaimed
photographer Geoffrey Clifford (author of Vietnam:
The Land We Never Knew).
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Ha Long
Bay, 1985
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Geoffrey Clifford
Clifford flew combat helicopter missions over
Vietnam for two years and experienced Vietnam
firsthand from the air and hidden by the chaos of
war. He traveled to the country in 1985 with the
first organized group of veterans to return to
Vietnam and made seventeen additional trips over a
five-year period to capture, through an artistic
lens, the scenes of a culture and a country
previously unknown to him. Supplemental text panels
by John Balaban, a noted scholar of Vietnamese
literature, provide descriptions of historical and
cultural context.
John Balaban and Ngo Thanh Nhan
The February 20th opening of the Smithsonian exhibit at the Air Zoo will feature a performance and discussion by John
Balaban, with accompaniment by Ngo
Thanh Nhan on the dan
tranh, the 16 string zither of Vietnam.
Balaban, a poet, translator, and conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, discovered the work of
Ho
Xuan Huong, an eighteenth-century poet, while in Vietnam making recordings of folk poetry. President Clinton cited Balaban's brilliant translation of her verse,
Spring
Essence, during his historical visit to North Vietnam.
Ngo Thanh Nhan, a computational linguist, was the first to print the ancient script of Vietnam,
Nom. Nhan was also politically active in the U.S. during the Vietnam War. His brother, who fought for
Saigon, was killed in the war.
The Things We Carried: Artifacts from Local
Vietnam Veterans
The Air Zoo’s education staff is also
developing a complementary exhibit of things carried
by local Vietnam veterans. Display cases throughout
the exhibit gallery will showcase artifacts loaned
and described by veterans. Air Zoo staff will
collect and transcribe the stories behind each item—from
medals to photos to Bibles to good luck charms—thus
offering the public insight into how the Vietnam War
was experienced by Kalamazoo County residents. To
offer their artifacts and accompanying stories,
Vietnam veterans should contact Stewart Bailey at
the Air Zoo, 382-6555.
These two exhibits will serve as the backdrop for
an opening celebration and a private gathering of
local veterans and their guests to meet author Tim O’Brien
during his visit to Kalamazoo. The exhibits will
also be open to the public during the Air Zoo’s
normal business hours with the cost of admission,
and Reading Together participants can pick up
discounted admission coupons at any public or
academic library in the county.
The
Air Zoo
6151 Portage Rd,
Portage, MI 49002
Phone: 269 382-6555 or toll free, 1 866 524-7966
Hours:
January-March
Monday-Saturday, 10am-5pm; Sunday, 12pm-6pm
April
Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm; Saturday, 10am-6pm,
Sunday, 12pm-6pm
Cost:
Exhibit included in Air Zoo admission price:
adults (16-59), $19.50; seniors (60+), $17.50;
children (6-15), $15.50; children five and under are
free.
The Air Zoo will offer a 50% discount coupon to
be distributed with the tickets to Tim O'Brien's
public talk. The coupons will be good for 50% one
admission and will be valid 2/23/06 - 3/23/06.
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